SSSS.GRIDMAN: Kaiju Battles, Giant Robots, and the Simulation We Choose to Believe

A city wipes itself clean after every kaiju rampage, and three kids are the only ones who remember what broke. That’s the spark that makes Gridman more than monster-of-the-week: it’s a character-driven mystery wrapped in tokusatsu steel, scored like a victory lap, and paced for people who want stakes without homework. We dig into why this 12-episode run earns a confident 9/10 while staying spoiler-light enough for first-timers.

We start with Yuta’s amnesia and that unsettling voice from an old computer, then track how each battle leaves behind a question: if the damage vanishes, what truths remain? Akane Shinjo emerges as a creator-goddess building kaiju to prune her world, a portrait of power, loneliness, and control that complicates the idea of a clean villain. Episode nine becomes a mood piece—ghostly, reflective, full of clues about motive and identity—while the Gridman Alliance grounds the show with believable teen choices, awkward humor, and earned courage.

Studio Trigger keeps the action punchy and the style deliberate. Not every cut is maximalist; some scenes linger to sharpen tension before the fights go crisp and kinetic. The suit design honors classic tokusatsu while staying agile, the kaiju designs serve emotion as much as spectacle, and the music leans heroic without tipping into parody. We also place Gridman in a mecha starter pack: short, accessible, and rich enough to hook newcomers who think the genre means 50-episode marathons.

If you’re mecha-curious or just want a sharp, self-contained story with heart, mystery, and a city that refuses to stay broken, hit play. Then tell us your favorite moment, your read on Akane, and what belongs on the definitive mecha starter list. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves kaiju, and drop a review to help more listeners find the show.

Chapters

• 0:01 Setting The Stage: Gridman
• 0:25 The Gridman Universe Explained
• 1:01 Watch Options And Scope
• 1:29 Yuta’s Amnesia And The Call
• 2:00 Kaiju Attacks And World Resets
• 2:16 Is The City A Simulation
• 3:08 Trigger’s Style, Kept Grounded
• 3:08 Allies Vs. Akane’s Kaiju
• 3:48 Episode Highlights And Villain Layers
• 4:34 Character Notes And Symbolism
• 5:15 Design, Animation, And Music
• 6:25 Final Score And Recommendation
• 7:20 Mecha Starter Pack Talk
• 8:40 Give Mecha A Chance
• 10:43 What’s Next On The Pod

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:01

What up, gang? It's another Mecca Monday with the Zone podcast, and this time let's talk about Quadra S. Gritman. Swear. Anyways, this is a Japanese anime television series jointly produced by Suburaya Productions and the one and only Studio Trigger. It's the first installment in the shared Gritman universe and an adaptation of the 1993 through 1994 Tokuzatsu series Denko Chojin Gritman. Now, there's the 12 episode original as Quadra-es Gritman. Then there's Quadra-S Dina Xenon, which I'm going to review next week. And then there's Gritman Universe, which is the movie that's like a direct sequel to Quadra-S Gritman. You know, I'm just going to call it Gritman for now. And I'm going to be honest with you, because with Crunchyroll, it's like you can only watch it Japanese bra for some reason on my end. So essentially, I pretty much skip the movie. I'm sorry in advance. But let me tell you, Gritman and Dina Xenon are very good. Very good mecha anime series. So let's go ahead and get into Gritman first. Now, we have Yuta Hibiki. He can't remember who he is, and he's now seeing and hearing things that others don't. Some voice from an old computer tells him to remember his calling, and he sees this massive, unmoving creature in the distance. Nothing's making sense to him until the behemoth springs to life, and suddenly Yuta is pulled into the digital world almost like Ditch Monster. And reappearing in the real one as the colossal hero Gritman. Now, the first episode starts off crazy with a robot kaiju attacking the city and blows up the school, but don't worry, that gets restored overnight. Because in this universe, everything gets reset after a kaiju battle as if it never happened, at least for the background characters. I also like how the series implies that the world that they're in is a simulation and that there's nothing beyond the city that they're in, at least until you get to a final episode. But I'm trying to do this thing where I'm not trying to spoil it too much, but at the very least, I'm reviewing it to let y'all know that at the very least I actually watched it. So yeah, trying to do a new thing nowadays. Unless it's like a full-blown review, then you know, spoil the work.

SPEAKER_00: 2:48

One of the only anime from Studio Trigger where the characters don't go into outer space.

SPEAKER_01: 2:57

Kind of proud of that. I mean, because you know they usually go down that route with Studio Trigger, but they actually kept it literally grounded. The main thing is while Yuda, Rika, Usumi, and at the Gridman Alliance, they're fighting the Kaiju attacking the town. It is a girl named Akane Shinjo, who's the main op who's actually creating the kaiju and restoring the city like a goddess playing a game with the inhabitants, killing off anyone she doesn't like. Now, a lot of things goes on in this anime, like a lot of things, like a lot of drama and teenage things that normally happens, you know, the typical coming of age kind of thing in the midst of all while they're fighting kaiju. Now, my favorite episode just might be episode nine, where the main trio was asleep while a ghost like kaiju was roaming the city and it had layers that explain Akane's character and her motive.

SPEAKER_00: 4:01

Almost like maybe the bad guy isn't really a bad guy.

SPEAKER_01: 4:09

And actually, it's like this alien named Alexis Kurdis character that was pulling the strings. Um, but she was the goddess, but as well as he was being manipulated, or you know, it was like a symbiotic relationship to where, like, on the one hand, she sought Alexis out, but Alexis was kind of using her. But, you know, it's one of those kind of things. Truthfully, Akane just acted like uh one of those girls that just want things to go to her way. Everybody's her friend, everybody likes her. If things don't go her way, she doesn't have like these tantrums, like not like a really bad tantrum, but more like you can just tell that she just comes off kind of rude and mean-spirited when she doesn't get her way, especially towards her minion Auntie. Uh, speaking of which, episode 10 is also pretty good with the symbolisms and the character development for Auntie with this new grid man looking for. Now, I want to address one thing. Now, I think the main meme for some fans, the main attraction was Rika's thighs. And I'm like thinking, I mean, I can't really comment on that because you know, high school girl. So if that's what you're into, then okay, but I can't really agree or say the same, honestly. I'm sorry. But hey, what I can say is the design for Gritman, the characters, and the enemy units are not bad. They're some looking kind of clean, not gonna lie. But I didn't like the way they animated some scenes where there was a lack of motion. Kind of as if a studio trigger was cutting corners here and there, but there was also great attention to detail in some places too. Like when it mattered, it was like the animation was getting fucking crispy. Now, the music is pretty good, sounds heroic and triumphant, kind of like Power Rangers or any other Tokozatsu series that you might know. The action is spectacular, the teenage characters feel like realistic people, first and all, and I like the little bit of mystery sprinkled in. So if I were to give this a rating, I dare say I would give it a 9 out of 10. It's not perfect, but really great. Like it just had a whole bunch of stuff going on within the 12 episodes, and I was just really joining them. Like, like I said, I'm trying to do a spoiler-free or like light spoiler reviews for Mega Mondays nowadays, but the main thing is I want people to actually see for themselves rather than me just ruining the whole plot for you so you don't necessarily have to, but trust me, it's good. It is good. Go watch it. Like it's kind of a shame that Mecca and Meg don't get a whole lot of love, but they're actually pretty good. It really depends on the show. Like, I think a lot of people are more used to things like Mobile Suit Gundam, where it has like 50 or so episodes, and some of them are pretty good, and then at some point with some of the Gundam universe, it starts to feel like homework, and I can understand that. But that's why I say there's like a mecha anime starter pack where there's like a couple of or few mecha anime that anybody can get into, and it'll be pretty good. And I dare say that Studio Trigger deserves its own mecha anime starter pack. So I would say like dang, either I will either say they have they need their own mecha anime starter pack, or just might as well just combine them into one thing to where it was gonna be Girl of Gone, Evangelion, Nice and Magic, and uh Kogia, Kogias, yes, yes. Uh those were the main for for a while. But now that I think about it, between Darling and the Frongs, uh there's Greg Man, there's Donna Xenon, there's a whole bunch, I would even say Grand Belm that we're gonna review eventually. There's a whole bunch where it's not that extensive to watch them. Like it'll probably take you like an afternoon or evening to get through them. Like nowadays, some of the anime that I'm gonna be reviewing going forward, some of them are like 24 to 26 episodes, so it's like not bad. Like you can clear that in the weekend, but that's something you like. I'm not gonna hold a gun to anyone's head to watch more mega anime. I'm just saying, like, give it a chance. Like, some of them are actually pretty good. Like with Great Man, I'm gonna be honest with you, it does get kind of weird. It gets weird, but it's like a good kind of weird, like, not too far out there, but it's something to where at least it's not boring. I can definitely give you that. Between Great Man Dino Zena and a whole bunch of other mega anime I'm gonna be reviewing, it's definitely not boring. If this is a boring one, I'm not gonna even review it. Like, if anything, if I do review it, I'm probably gonna shit on it. Just to say, hey yo, like if there is a mega anime that I wouldn't recommend, actually, I would. I think I would say Diamie Dollar. I tried to review that, but I don't know what to say about that one. It's just weird. Like I don't even know if I even like it. Like, I just have mixed feelings about it, especially with the design for the methods. It seems like kind of dumb to me to an extent that I'm like Jesus Christ. Anyways, nine out of ten for quadruple S.gridman. Like I said, I'm gonna review Dina Xenon next week. I just want to get a quick review out. But of course, there's gonna be a whole bunch of more reviews coming out. I'm working on One Piece with Tanara. I'm still working on a whole bunch of different anime, so it's not gonna be just Mecha. And it's not just gonna be just anime. Like we're gonna do getting back to the movies, the MCU, uh, DCU. We're gonna be talking about a whole bunch of different things, but Mecca Mondays. It's just something I just wanted to do. So, until the next one, take it easy, stay nerdy. Great things are coming. Have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night, whenever you're listening to this, and ultimately, take it easy.